

Literally switched to Linux on my desktop yesterday.
Literally switched to Linux on my desktop yesterday.
Get ready to install a custom rom without the battery patch.
The patch they put out for the 4A basically bricked the phone. Battery life was halved, and the charge indicator was practically useless (the number could drop massively within minutes), making the remaining half battery unreliable as well.
Because the 9A a) costs money, which I currently don’t want to spend (especially not on Google), and b) is significantly larger than the 4A, which I specifically bought for it’s small form factor.
And I seriously doubt the only way to keep my phone from exploding is to push a patch that makes it so the device itself seemingly has problems figuring it the charge level of the battery it tries to keep from exploding.
I cannot stress enough how god awful this “patch” was. They completely phoned it in, doing just the bare minimum to ward off class action lawsuits or consumer protection agencies.
I will buy a new phone quite soon since CalyxOS also stopped updating it now. But the Pixel A series obviously comes with a major liability now.
I got the nerf on the 4A because the battery replacement “option” requirement me to personally being my phone to a repair shop 250km away.
And calling it a nerf is flat out wrong, it’s borderline remote bricking. That patch not only slashed battery life in half, but the charge indicator was completely unreliable. I’ve seen it go from 80 to 30 in an hour (on standby, btw.), then from 30 to 25 in 2 hours.
I’ve installed CalyxOS, which comes without the nerf.
Yeah, devices that can run fully local are the best. They can be integrated into Home Assistant (or similar), with full control over them. No reliance on a remote server or proprietary app.
That’s why it’s important to make sure the device can also run purely locally (e.g. via HomeAssistant).
(Not meant as a rebuke, just good advice for the future)
Carrying a spare battery is much more compact than a power bank and charging cable though. Or even a wall adapter and charging cable, which also requires an outlet.
Yeah, Pixel 4A only gets that one update that mutually breaks the battery management.
This page lists all links that OM is supposed to open, including GM.
I’m fairly confident that this could be solved by better trained and configured chatbots. Maybe as a supplementary device between in-person therapy sessions, too.
I’m also very confident that there’ll be lot of harm done until we get to that point. And probably after (for the sake of maximizing profits) unless there’s a ton of regulation and oversight.